Milling machine



Nov. 13, 1945.

H. M. SCARFF MILLING MACHINE Filed Jan. 24', 1944y 3 Sheets-Sheet 1lnuenior igl 'Ho'roldP/loarff B5 QW 4 Nov. 13, 1945. H, M. SCARFF2,388,872

MILLING MACHINE n Filed Jan. 24, 1944 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Imm/Won Hamm Mmfwww Nov. 13, 1945. H. MSCARFF MILLING MACHINE ZISheets-Sheet 5 FiledJan. 24, 1944 Patented Nov. 13, 1945 MILLING MACHINE Harold M. Scar",Muskegon, Mich., assigner to Muskegon Piston Ring Company,

Muskegon,

Mich., a corporation of Michigan Application January 24, 1944, SerialNo. 519,474

4 Claims'.

This invention relates to milling machines. One place where the millingmachine ofthe present invention is-very useful is in cutting the gappiecepartings or segmentsfrompiston ring castings, it being understoodthat the ring castings are of an out-of-round form and of a charactersuch as madey by cutting a circular pattern of the' proper dimensionsat' one side and inserting a short segment between the ends of thepattern and casting the'ri'ngs from the out-of-round patternthusproduced In finishing the piston rings asegment or gappiece'comparable to the segment which was inserted inthe pattern is removed inorder that the finished rings when closed at theV parting thus madewilll have a circular formv and conform to the walls ofthe cylinderinwhichthey are u sed and with the ends of the ring broughtsubstantially together. Furthermore, the cutting of the gap piecesegment initially does not complete the finished machining of the endsof the piston ring'and in a further step of the process of thecompleting of the finishing of the piston rings, it is desirable thatthe ends of the ring be finished machined and the present invention isuseful for that purpose. While the machine disclosed as an embodiment ofthe invention is one which is in daily use for the purposes stated withreference to piston ring production, there are many other places of usefor the invention and the'invention is not to be considered asrestricted' solely topiston ring manufacture.

Itv will be apparentthat tol cutvthe gap piece or segment from thelpiston ring castingsA onv radii of the casting, when the two ends arebrought together they: will notv come into directl abutting engagementbut. the space between the ends of thepiston rings will be wider at. oneside than the other and thoughy the difference inwidth is smalllandmeasured in thousandths or ten-thousandths of. an inch, suchcharacter'of` parting in a piston ring.l is undesirable and is,l not asYgood as oneinv which the ends of the piston-rings when brought togetherare substantially exactly'parallel. With the present inventionsuch:parallelismy is obtained and at the same timerazhigh: quantityproduction isy possible, thesegments beingl milled from the piston.`ringy castings rapidlyl andY accurately; and also: the: finishmachining.

Anf understandingY of the invention may be had from the following.description: taken iny connection with the accompanyingr drawings of apractical. and inY use embodiment of theinvention in which,

Fig. 1 isl a front elevation' of' the milling machine. Fig. Zis-a planView thereof. y Fig. 3lisk a Vertical section froinfront to rear of theupper' part of the machine, substantially' on the plane of line 3-3f' ofFig. l, and

Fig. 4 isa viewf enlarged, showing the manner of milling the gap-piecefrom apiston ring cast-l mg. f f Like reference characters refer' tolik'e parts in the different iiguresY of the" drawings. In theconstructionl a lower basey support having lateral-wings I anda centralsupport Ia extendingferward of the wings is provided. At'the upper endslof the lateral wings I housing -supports 2` anda extend upwardly and arespaced apart from' each other as best shownfin Fig. 1-, the support 2-being located rearward ofv support 2a'.

'At the front side of eachA oftheI housing sup'- ports 2 and Za avertical! member 3 is mounted for sliding adjustment and is raised andlowered by mea-ns of a screw shaft 4 at ,the upperend of which amanually operable crank or handle' 5 is secured. At the front side ofeach of thel members 3V a horizontal slide 6 is mountedy thereon and isadjusted to different positions by means of a screw shaft I operated bya crank or handle The extent or amount of adjustment in each case' isindicated byvsuitableiindicating scales shown at 9. l

At thefront of each of thevslides 6 a generally VerticalV plate IUispivotally mounted on the slide 6 on a pivot I I between its upper andlower ends (Fig. 1). Adjacent its lower end each `of the plates I0 hasan arc-shaped slot I2 through whichV a bolt I 3 extends from the lowerpart of the associated slide 6 to receive a nut whereby theplates I0 maybe `angularly adjusted about the pivots II and flxedly secured in anyposition to which adjusted'.

The plates Ill between the pivots llandthe bolts I3 are provided withtransverse journals It in each of which a shaft I5 is mounted for protation.A As shown the housing support 2. is disposed back ofthesupport 2a, therefore the shaft' I5 carried by support 2a is located. infront of the shaft I5= carried on the support 2 asin Fig.. 2,. Adjacentthe free ends of the shafts I5;`

said` shaftsl extending toward and passing by each. other, a millingcutter IS, Ita is releasably secured. As-shown in Fig. 1- theV twocutters, one

located back of the other-are disposed' in planes l each at anacuteangle toa vertical` plane between them. At the outer end ofi eachof theshafts lliv a driven pulley or wheel I1 is secured. At the upper ends ofeach of the plates I and at the front thereof an electric motor I8carried on a supporting bracket I9 has its shaft equipped with a drivingpulley or wheel which, through an endless belt 2I passing around it andthe wheel I1 below, operates to drive a shaft I5. Each of the shafts areindependently driven as is evident.

Above the central forwardly extending supporting member Ia of the mainbase support a horizontal table 22 is mounted on suitable guides or waysfor reciprocation from front to rear. YNear the back end of the table anintegral arm 23 extends downwardly therefrom and is connected with apiston rod 24 which enters a horizontal cylinder 25 and is connectedwith a suitable piston therein (not shown). The entrance of pressurealternately at opposite sides of the piston within the cylinder servesto reciprocate the rod 24 with an accompanying reciprocatory movement ofthe table 22. The entrance of the fluid pressure into the cylinder ateither side of the piston 25 may be controlled automatically by asuitable control 25a mounted at a side of the supporting member la andengaged by an operating block adjustably mounted at a side of the table22 as shown in Fig. 1. The detail of the control of the table throughsaid piston cylinder apparatus is not shown as it is old and well knownand available to those skilled in the art.

At the upper side of the table 22 a fixture 26 is bolted, having twospaced vertical ends 21 and 28 and horizontal side bars 29 extendingbetween the ends to each of which a member 30 is adapted to beadjustably secured. Said members 30 extend upwardly and at an angletoward each other and at their upper portions are provided withrelatively long contact blades adapted to come one at each side of aplurality of piston ring castings located between them.

The inner or rear end 28 of the fixture has a cylindrical guide 3| castintegral therewith through which a plunger 32 is mounted for slidingmovement, at its inner end being equipped with a head 33. The plunger 32is operated by means of a bell crank 34 engaging at one end with theplunger and pivotally mounted between its ends at 35 on the rear end 28of the xture. The end of the other arm of the Vbell crank 34 ispivotally connected to a piston rod 36 which extends into a cylinder 31and is connected with a piston therein (not shown), the cylinder 31being mounted on a suitable bracket 31a carried by and movable with thetable 22. Said cylinder 31 is adapted to have a fluid pressure mediumconducted to it at either side of the piston therein for moving theplunger 32 and attached head 33 in desired directions.

In the upper side of the front end 21 of the xture and in the upper edgeof the head 33 notches 38 (Fig. 1) are cut for the reception of a at baror other like support on which a plurality of piston ring castings 39may be disposed with their sides in engagement. The piston ring castingswill be located on the bar Vfrom which they are suspended with all ofthe segment portions thereof over the bar. It is to be understood thatin casting the piston ring castings the places where the segments or gappieces are to be milled therefrom are properly marked in casting as, forexample, by a groove at the inner side of the segment portion extendingfrom one side of the ring to the other so that the one who loads thering castings on the bar can readily dispose the segments which are tobe milled at their proper places. The bar with the plurality of ringcastings thereon is laid at its end portions in the wide slots ornotches 38 and uid pressure is introduced into the cylinder 31 below thepiston therein to force the head 33 against the ring casting at theirnerI end of the plurality of ring castimgs, clamping them snuglyagainst each other and against the front end 21 of the fixturedescribed. The ring castings are held clamped against 4each other andare ready to have the milling operation performed thereon for removal ofthe segments or gap pieces.

While I have described the specic and particular xture which is used inthe initial milling of the gap piece segments from piston ring castings,it is to be understood that the fixture 26 which is bolted to the upperside of the table 22 is removable from the table and may be replaced byother xtures of like nature for different sizes of piston ring castings;or by f1xtures of a different nature for the handling of the pistonrings after the gap piece segments havebeen initially cut therefrom andthe ends of the rings are to be finished milled.

The ring castings 39 clamped together in side by side relationship andlying with their axes horizontal are centered by the engagement of themembers 30 against opposite sides thereof (Fig. 1). On rearward movementof the table 22 the ring castings are brought successively to themilling cutters Ilia and IB, and the gap piece segments shown at 48 inFig. 4 are cut in succession one from each of the ring castings. Thelower edge portions of the milling cutters pass through the slots orrecess at 38 as shown in Fig. 1. Because of the adjustment of the platesID about the axes of the pivots at I I the milling cutters I6 may belocated at desired selected angles to the vertical suchthat the two endsof a ring casting after the gap piece segment has been removed will comeinto direct abutting engagement upon contracting the ring casting, andthe surfaces of said ends will lie in parallel relation to each other.

It is further apparent that because of the vertical adjustment providedby the mounting of the members 3 on the housing supports 2 and 2a themilling cutters may be adjusted vertically for ring castings ofdifferent diameters; and that because of the horizontal adjustment ofthe slides 6 upon the members 3 the milling cutters may be e adjustedinwardly or outwardly for the milling of any desired or preselectedwidth of gap. The machine, therefore, is useful in its millingoperations for a large number of sizes of ring castings, having a widerange of adjustment to take care of different sizes or diameters .of thecastings and of different lengths of parting segments to be cuttherefrom. And with any ring castings of whatever diameter beingprocessed and with whatever length of segments is cut the millingcutters may be located in a proper angular position so that the ends ofthe ring castings after the parting segments have been removed Will cometogether when the casting is closed without the two ends disposed at anacute angle to each other but in parallel relation.

The construction described is in practical use and operation and iscompletely satisfactory for the purposes for which it is designed. It isused for the initial milling of the gap segments and also for the finalor finished milling of the ends of the piston rings at the partings orgaps The invention is defined in the appended claims and is to beconsidered comprehensive of all forms of structure coming within theirscope.

I claim:

l. In a milling machine, horizontally spaced vertical supports eachhaving a vertical front face and one of said supports being located backof the other, a member mounted for vertical sliding adjustment on thefront face of each support, means for adjusting said member, a slidemounted at the front of each of said members for horizontal adjustment,means for adjusting said slides, a vertical plate pivotally mountedbetween its ends on each of said slides to turn about a horizontal axis,said plate having a transverse journal, a shaft mounted for rotation insaid journal, means for holding each of said plates at any position towhich it may be turned about its pivot, a milling cutter mounted on androtatable with each shaft, said shafts extending toward each other andone being located back of the other, and means mountedon each of saidplates for driving its associated shaft.

2. In a construction of the class described, spaced vertical supportseach having a substantially vertical front face, the face of one of saidsupportsbeing located in a plane back of the face of the other support,a vertical member mounted for vertical sliding movement on each of saidsupports of said face, manually operable means for adjusting each ofsaid members, a slide mounted for horizontal movement on each of saidmembers, means for manually adjusting said slides to predeterminedselected positions, a vertical plate pivotally mounted between its endson and at the front of each slide to turn about a horizontal axis, atransverse journal on each of said plates located below its pivot, ashaft mounted for rotation on and extending through each journal, saidshafts carried by said plates extending toward each other with onelocated back of the other, milling cutters mounted on the adjacent endportions of said shafts, means for holding each of said plates in anyselected position to which it may be turned about its pivot, and meansmounted on each of said plates for driving the shaft carried thereby.

3. In a construction of the class described, two rotatably mountedshafts, said shafts occupying a generally angular position to thehorizontal, said shafts extending toward each other and with their axeslocated in different vertical planes one back of the other, millingcutters secured to and rotatable with the shafts and connected to saidshafts at their overlapping end portions, means for driving said shafts,and individual means for changing the shafts in vertical position, inangular position and in relative horizontal position, each of said meansbeing separately operable, as specified.

4. In a milling machine, a horizontal reciprocable table upon which Workis adapted to be held and mounted for milling operations, two shaftsextending toward each other with one back of the other located over saidtable and underneath which the work is adapted to be passed, means formounting said shafts for rotation, a milling cutter secured to eachshaft, said cutters being secured to the shafts at their adjacent endportions, means for adjusting and securing the shafts at selectedangular positions to the horizontal, means for moving said shafts bodilyin vertical directions and means for adjusting said shafts horizontallyto diierent relative positions with respect to each other.

, HAROLD M. SCARFF.

